Take it Back
by RascalChao
Summary: While it rarely happens, Peacock and Big Band do get in fights with each other. This time, Peacock goes too far.


The main area of Lab 8 was relatively deserted. Save for Stanley, not a soul was present in the normally-populated area. Stanley checked the clock. Five-thirty, precisely the time Ileum and a few of the children would be in the kitchen, preparing supper. It explained why nobody was here. They'd all be in the dining room, eagerly waiting for whatever the cooks prepared.

Yet, there was something different. Everyone else questioned why Stanley had been so apprehensive today. He couldn't explain it; he just felt like something was going to happen, be it good or bad. Despite wanting to be optimistic, Stanley leaned towards the latter.

Now he found himself sitting down on one of the chairs scattered in the room, doodling on the side of the paper attached to his clipboard. Stanley wasn't one to shirk work, but he felt so nervous. Maybe he needed to talk to someone.

The ground vibrated slightly. Then it did it again. He chuckled; Big Band was obviously on the move. By the way the tremors were getting stronger, he was making his way to where Stanley was.

The scientist turned his head to the hallway, where the cyborg's form came out from behind the corner. He turned, and it became clear that Peacock was on his other side. What worried Stanley was that both of them looked very annoyed at each other, Peacock more so than Big Band. Then, the conversation they were having seemed to come from behind the corner too.

"... an' I jus' don't understand why ya gotta ignore me!" Peacock shouted up at him, arms crossed. "I _do_ understand that yer jus' tryin' t' give everyone else a little more attention, but now yer blowin' me off!"

"I ain't blowin' you off, Peacock." Big Band replied, voice almost to Peacock's level. "I want you to name a time I blew you off."

"Jus' yesterday! I asked if ya wanted t' watch a movie with me an' ya said, 'Maybe later,' but ya never even said ya couldn't!"

"I don't remember that."

"'Course ya wouldn't, Windbag!" Peacock's volume got even louder, almost grating to the ears. "'Cause ya didn't even bother t' remember me askin'!"

"Peacock!" The had entered the room now, and Big Band fully turned to the smaller cyborg. "You're makin' stuff up and trying to pick fights, and I won't condone that!"

"What are ya, my father?!" Now, Peacock started to tear up. "'Cause it doesn't seem like ya are anymore!"

This made Big Band stop. He nervously glanced over at Stanley, as if trying to send an apology. "Peacock."

"I mean it! Now it jus' seems like ya pity me! Is that what," she hiccups, "what I am? Somethin' t' pity so ya look good for Ileum?"

Stanley flinched. That was harsh and she knew it. Big Band's eyes widened. "Take that back. Take that back right now, Peacock, you don't mean what you're sayin'."

"Oh, but I do!" She backed up, one hand reaching behind her back, "'Cause if I got that reaction outta you, that means I'm right, old man!"

She then whipped out her pistol, firing off a shot at the larger cyborg. He parries it with a cymbal without flinching, then backs up himself. "Fine then. I'll say this before we start." One of his smaller robotic hands reached up and gently pulled down the mask obscuring his mouth and nose. "I'm very disappointed in you, Patricia."

The shock of the statement bought Big Band enough time to replace the mask and launch out a Giant's Step. Shockwaves went through the floor, making the chairs bounce. Stanley yelped and gripped his. _These two are going to fight? Here? I hate it when I'm right…_ Hearing Stanley's yelp, Big Band hesitated and looked over in his direction.

This gave Peacock the time to recover and stomp the floor, sending up a huge floorboard on the spot where he was standing. It doesn't even make him leave the ground, he just stumbles to the side. Blowing through a whistle, Peacock backed up even more as a teacup fell and broke over Big Band's head. Other than eliciting a groan from him, he's unfazed.

Big Band steps back and then rushes forward at terrifying speeds with his famous Brass Knuckle out. Peacock tries a few shots but they bounce off of him, and soon he rams into her at full force, sending her flying against the wall. She never hits the ground; one of her portals appears and she reappears right behind him.

Brandishing her gun, a blade comes out of the end instead of a bullet, forcing Big Band forward and onto the ground. He's quick to recover as a few rockets activate and get him back on his feet. He tries for another Giant's Step but Peacock is quicker; she pops back into a portal and dodges the shockwave, reappearing in the same spot afterwards.

A menacing gleam appears in the corner of her eye. Opening up her hat, a mechanical peacock's head appears, piloted at the head by Avery. It opens its beak, firing a crimson laser directly at Big Band. Yet he just parries the entire thing, including the bullets that came afterwards from her Eyes of Argus. The peacock head retracts as Peacock stares at him, both in confusion and anger.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Big Band flies forward and uppercuts her into the air, jumping after her. Six timpani drums appear around him as four mallets come from the valves on the sides of his coat. He then begins to furiously pound them; the shocks from the drums being hit is enough to keep Peacock in the air and it seems to be damaging her. He relents after a while, de-summoning the drums and letting Peacock fall to the floor.

All the while, Stanley has been the only spectator of the fight. He's gripping his chair even tighter than he was before, mostly because he was afraid of getting caught in the crossfire. The scientist contemplated, for a moment, calling for help, but it seemed like it wasn't necessary. He had seen Leduc peek his head into the room a short while earlier and then disappeared as early as he came.

Deciding to try to get out of the way, Stanley quickly releases the chair and sprints over to the door leading to the kitchen. He rushes inside, closing the door behind him.

The tension inside the room seemed to match the level Stanley had been at all day. Silence started when those gathered had noticed that he had entered. He noticed Leduc, Hive, Ileum, and most, if not all of the children.

"Stanley," Ileum began, several children clutching to her in fright, "what's going on? Leduc said that those two were fighting."

He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "It's as he described. I don't know quite why they started-Peacock mentioned something about Big Band ignoring her-but they seemed to be really going at it."

"We should get Dr. Avian," Hive said, worry present in her voice, "before one of them really hurts the other."

"I'm not so much worried about Big Band as I am Peacock," Stanley replied. "Big Band's durable and could knock Peacock out cold easily. It looked like he was aiming for it out there too." _I've never seen him go all out like that against Peacock. He even parried the entirety of her Argus Agony attack. Did she strike that deep of a chord?_

Leduc leaned forward, shook his head, then sprinted for the door, easily passing Stanley and exiting the room. Hive's eyes widened, then she followed after. Ileum looked to Stanley, who looked like he was going to chase after the two himself as well.

"Please," he started, "get Avian." Then he jogged through the doorway.

Back in the main room, Leduc and Hive stood side by side, slightly obscuring Stanley's view. He moved to the side to get a better look at what had happened while he was gone.

Peacock and Big Band stood facing each other, a ways away from the other. Both of them were panting heavily, Peacock had her gun out, and Big Band had a Brass Knuckle ready. Peacock looked very battered; blood poured freely from her nose and her arms were bent in several places. On the other hand, Big Band barely looked hurt at all; the only injury Stanley could see was that the saxophone on his back was rather dented. Peacock's frown grew wider, fully exposing her beartrap teeth.

"So? Got… got anything t' say fer yerself, old man?"

Big Band simply glared at her. Then, a noise that sounded like a mixture of steam being released and metal groaning came from inside his body. Peacock's expression instantly changed to worry.

"Ben? That didn't sound good."

"No," Big Band fell to one knee heavily, then bowed his head, "it didn't."

With that, he fell forwards, crashing on the floor. Peacock's eyes widened, and she started to run over to him. She tripped before she got to him, and didn't get up either. Hive gasped while Leduc let out a "No!". They both ran over to the fallen fighters, Hive to Big Band and Leduc to Peacock.

Stanley simply stood, mostly in shock and partly because he knew those two would take care of them. The sound of the kitchen door opening broke the silence that followed, and he turned to look at who had emerged.

Ileum had followed Stanley's orders, and Dr. Avian stood in the doorway. He only lingered for a moment, then ran over to the defeated duo. Leduc and Hive backed off in order to get him some room. Avian checked on Peacock, then said something to Hive that Stanley didn't catch. She nodded and gingerly picked up Peacock, half-running back into the kitchen.

Then Avian moved onto Big Band. He lifted sections of the large cyborg's coat, lifted his mask and put it back, then got back up. He walked to his side, beckoning Leduc and Stanley over. When they both had joined him, he looked back to Big Band with slight worry in his eyes.

"Gentlemen, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that he doesn't seem to have any sort of major injuries… on his exterior. The bad news is that he most likely has had a system failure, something that I would have to move him into one of the recovery labs for. Unfortunately, even I cannot fathom a way to move him."

"So he's…" Leduc began, but Avian shook his head.

"There is hope yet. I had anticipated this, so I know what to do. Listen closely…"

_An hour or so later…_

Thanks to Avian's quick thinking and the haste of the subjects of Lab 8, the main area had been commandeered into a makeshift recovery lab. At first, Big Band was the only one of the two to be housed inside, but Avian decided it was better to have the two closer so they wouldn't assume the worst if one of them woke up before the other.

His diagnosis had been correct; Big Band suffered almost no external injuries but because he had overworked himself, the situation inside his body was almost critical. Peacock had some physical injuries and internal ones to match. "Nothing that will affect either of them in the long run," he had commented to Stanley while he was working on Big Band, "but the recovery process will take a while."

How long was a while? Ileum had been worrying herself sick over Big Band, to the point where she could barely contain her worries and had to sit outside of the room in one of the chairs set up. Leduc paced nervously in front of the door, trying very hard to contain the sparks that wanted to lance across his arms. Hive sat right next to Ileum, whispering comforting words to her.

Inside the makeshift recovery room, Dr. Avian worked away at Peacock and Stanley worked on Big Band, both aided by a few scientists. Occasionally the two switched if there was something present that the other had no clue how to handle. They both worked and fixed for seemingly an eternity. An eternity of switching places, close calls, and seeing the interiors of both cyborgs.

Finally, Avian emerged from the main room, sleeves rolled up and gloves tinged red with blood. Everyone looked up, trying to search for some sort of emotion on his face.

"Peacock…" he started, voice low and almost foreboding, "is recovering faster than expected. Perhaps fast enough to be ready to say hello to everyone by the end of the day."

That took a weight off of everyone's shoulders, despite the tone of voice he said it in. Ileum clutched the arms of her chair. "What of…" she choked out, words strangled by her throat trying to close up, "what of Ben?"

"He is progressing at a normal rate. He did suffer heavy injuries to his systems, and some may need to be replaced, but otherwise I expect him to be moving within two to three days."

Nodding, Ileum relented her grip on the chair a bit. So he was ok. That was all she needed to know. He was going to be ok.

The door behind him cracked open slightly, Stanley's face appearing. "Sir? Peacock's waking up again."

Avian remained silent for a moment. "Let her wake up. I think it's time."

With that, he opened the door fully and disappeared back into the recovery room. His last sentence left an unanswered question on everyone's minds; What was it time for?

Back in Peacock's side of the room, the world was hazy and her head hurt. Badly. It was the worst headache she'd had in weeks. She tried to blink using her Eyes of Argus, only to discover her arms were detached. _Great. I'm blind, have no clue where I am, and my head hurts. Yeesh, Big Band beat me up hard._

She sat for a moment, the haze of being asleep for so long starting to clear. _Big… BIG BAND. I've messed up bad now, I've messed up so bad! Where is he? Did I kill him? Did I?_

A million questions raced through her head, silenced when she heard a curtain being drawn to the side, then back again. It was a while before anyone spoke up, and the stillness bothered Peacock like nothing else.

"Peacock. You are awake, yes?"

Doc Avian. She turned towards the sound of his voice.

"Y-yes… Doc?" Her voice was hoarse, and it hurt to talk.

More silence followed. Peacock squirmed a little, trying to get comfortable on the… bed? She felt cloth below her but her head wasn't supported by anything. _They moved me to the recovery room. Does that mean that they moved him too? No, he's too big and heavy._

"Firstly," Avian said, voice quiet, "you aren't dead, if you're curious."

"A'course. I don't think I coulda gotten beat up that hard."

"Secondly, let me get your arms back."

She heard the familiar sound of his footsteps, and she strained to hear more while her hearing was heightened. There was the 'whir' of machinery, and the faint creaking of metal somewhere to her right, in the distance.

Then she heard the sound of metal shifting against itself to her left. Peacock felt something nudge against her left arm socket, then suddenly she had her sight back. Her Eyes of Argus made quick work of examining the room.

Her guess of lying on a medical bed was correct. Tables filled with tools were scattered around the room. Speaking of, this wasn't the recovery room. Three of the walls she recognized being from the main room, the one she remembered last being in. The fourth, off to her right, was simply a large curtain separating the rest of the room. Doc Avian was moving over to her right side, attaching her right arm and fully restoring her vision.

Attempting to right herself, Peacock grips the edges of the bed and tries to push herself up. Her arms quiver violently and send several messages of pain, which makes her stop.

"Don't try to get up quite yet," Avian warned. "Your arms are still getting used to being attached to you again and you're recovering from surgery on top of that."

Sighing, Peacock let her arms simply rest at her sides. She noticed she had been changed into a medical gown, and that her chest ached a bit. Pulling her clothing to the side slightly, her suspicions were confirmed; there was a neat row of stitches down her chest and the skin around them was still an angry red.

"While you weren't injured to the point of fatality, you still suffered internal injuries and physical injuries. Those stitches were from us opening you up."

She frowned. "How long am I gonna be outta action?"

"Until your wounds heal."

"Estimates, Doc."

"Two weeks at the least."

Peacock groaned. "Doc, that's too long."

Avian turned his head, gazing idly at the curtains. "At least you will recover faster than Big Band."

That hurt to Peacock's core. She put her clothing back and looked towards the curtains as well. "How is he, Doc? I didn't kill him, did I?"

Avian didn't answer. Her breathing sped up. _He ain't answering. He ain't answering, I killed him didn't I?_

"Doc?"

"Why did you start fighting with him in the first place, Peacock?"

"Because I…" She could feel herself tearing up. "It was because I was bein' selfish an' thought he didn't wanna be around me any more! So I just made up something an' apparently I said somethin' wrong an'... I fired off the first shot, I could've stopped but I didn't."

Dr. Avian nodded. "Some things cannot be taken back. You know that."

"Y-yes."

"Why did you exert more force on him than usual?"

"I-I just…" Peacock couldn't speak anymore. She delved into sobs, covering the holes that used to be her eyes. Avian stood to her side, expression seemingly made of stone. He let Peacock cry for a while.

"I'm a killer, Doc. A killer of good men. I never meant it, I never did."

He simply looked at her. "Let's take a walk. You might want to calm down."

"I killed somebody, Doc."

Yet she reached for Avian, and he picked her up and set her on her feet. Peacock's legs felt like jelly, but she was supported by the doctor. They began to walk to the far end of the room, past the curtain and to the door that led to the kitchen. Dr. Avian opened the doorknob and gingerly led Peacock through.

All heads in the room turned towards her. Gentle smiles lit up faces. Avian walked her a bit more into the room.

"Peacock has made outstanding progress with her recovery," he said, tone light, "While she does still need help to walk at the moment, she'll be able to walk on her own by tomorrow at the latest."

Leduc's smile grew wider. "Amazing. Nothing quite gets you down, does it?"

Peacock could only look down. _Didn't they know? Or had Doc Avian held off on telling them? What if he was going to tell them now?_

Hive's smile faded. "Hey, what's eating you? You should be happy, you recovered pretty fast."

Peacock started trembling. Avian frowned a bit. "Hive, do not force onto her what she should be feeling. I ask of everyone to give her both some space and some time."

Nods. Dr. Avian started walking again with her, out of the kitchen and to the halls.

They walked slowly, stopping in places when Peacock's legs refused to move and starting again when they did. Her breathing evened out, but guilt still hung heavily on her mind. She looked up to her partner.

"Doc." Her voice was low and soft, so soft that it nearly didn't sound like her. "I know I killed Ben. You don't need to drag it out."

He looked down to her. "Do you feel guilty?"

Peacock nodded. "Plenty. He was the father that I lost. He's the one who let me sleep with him when the nightmares got bad. He's the one who always stood up for me. Stood up for all of us." She began to tear up again. "And I killed him. They don't know, do they?"

Avian looked ahead, staring off into the distance. "They don't know because they know the truth."

She blinked, forcing the tears out of her eyes. "You're not making sense, Doc."

"I never said you murdered Ben, did I?"

Peacock stood for a while, letting Avian's words sink in. She never did kill Big Band? Leaning a bit against him, she calmly gripped his hand. "Can I go see him?"

"He might still be asleep, but yes."

They turned around and went down a different hallway rather than the one that led to the kitchen. This one Peacock knew well. It was the one that led to the main room. They had to pass through a curtain where normally there was no door.

There he was. Lying on his back with space for the saxophone, on a fittingly large medical bed. Big Band looked a bit strained in the face, like he was in pain. The thought made Peacock even sadder.

Stanley sat on a chair nearby, seemingly taking a break. He perked up when the two entered the makeshift room.

"Hello, Dr. Avian. Big Band's stable for now. I didn't apply any narcotics because I didn't know how that would affect his systems."

"Good. Think we'll be able to rouse him?"

Stanley nodded, then seemed to notice Peacock. He nervously fidgeted and looked away, unsure of what to say to the girl.

Avian nudged Peacock closer to Big Band. At first she feared for her balance, but the time spent walking with Dr. Avian seemed to have strengthened her legs, and she was able to make her way over to Big Band without any assistance.

She found herself next to his head, top of the bed at shoulder level. Now that she was closer, Peacock could hear his ragged breathing as well. She almost didn't want to bother him; she almost wanted to let him sleep and not have to talk to her right away. Yet, she couldn't find the strength to move away.

"Ben?" Peacock's voice was barely above a whisper.

Big Band stirred. He felt even hazier than Peacock was when she first woke up, and he was sore all over. His eyes opened a crack, greyed pupils shifting towards the sound of her voice. Big Band didn't make a sound but it was clear he was awake and listening.

Peacock rested her arms and her chin on the bed. "I know you probably hate me right now, and you have every reason because I've been a huge jerk. I started that fight and-"

_Honk._ The sound of the toy horn stopped Peacock mid-sentence. It slid back into Big Band's coat as he slightly turned his head towards her.

"Ain't... Ain't your fault for me going down," he rasped.

"But how isn't it my fault? I really tried to hurt you back there."

"Overworked myself... trying to hurt you. Are you ok, Lil' P?"

"Of course I'm ok, Woodwind." Peacock looked directly at him, all Eyes of Argus focused on him. "But are you ok? _Actually_ ok?"

"I'm sore all over, and still…" Big Band let out a weary sigh. "Still pretty salty at you, I admit. But I'll be ok."

"I said some mean things back there. I'm sorry for all of it."

"I forgive you, kid. We all let our mouths run when we're right angry."

"I want to know one thing, though…" She closed her eyes, and took a breath. "Why'd you go at me so hard? I understand I was being annoying and downright rude, but you seemed _really_ angry."

It was his turn to feel guilty. Very guilty. "Kid… you know how I'm always comfortin' other people? Always lettin' them speak their mind to me?"

She nodded, getting the idea. "But nobody ever lets you rant?"

"That's it, lil' bird. All the grievances I've ever had went unheard simply because I didn't want to shove my burdens on anyone else. So you started fightin' me and, well, I lost it. I went nearly all out on ya, Lil' P, and that's my fault."

"To be fair, I would have beat the daylights outta myself there."

Big Band shook his head. "Doesn't make it any more right. Can you forgive me?"

Peacock nodded again, then reached over and hugged him. "I forgive ya. If you ever need someone t' talk to, I'm here. I love you, ok?"

Behind his mask, he smiled. "I love you too, Peacock."


End file.
